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October 2, 2012 - Bill Esterson's Westminster Diary

The people who live at Fouracres in Maghull had a miserable time and many of them were flooded.

It rained for longer than I can remember and the water in the brooks next to the houses was very high. The homes have never flooded before and it may or may not have anything to do with the brooks not being cleared for the last two years.

In Formby there was also flooding and it showed how important it is to keep the culverts and streams clear. But equally the drains could not cope across Sefton Central.

I am due to meet United Utilities shortly to discuss the drains and to raise concerns which residents have raised with me in Aintree, and Lydiate as well as in Formby and Maghull. I will also be speaking to the Environment Agency and Sefton Council to see what lessons they have both learned from the emergency.

I spoke to many of the residents who were affected by the flooding and they were extremely grateful to all the emergency services who tried to help and to the volunteers for their efforts.

The flooding is a reminder of the potential impact of large scale development on the green belt. Many of the potential sites for development around Sefton Central were flooded. Many of these sites also drained relatively quickly but if these were developed it would mean the water would have to go into an already overworked drainage system. If development happens on our green belt land, the drains are going to have to cope with the sort of weather we had last week.

The Formby Action Group is going from strength to strength in its fight to stop David Wilson Homes from building next to Formby Bypass. The action group is leafleting the whole of Formby this week with information about its campaign and has organised an online petition to stop building on the green belt.

The petition says:

We have formed the above action group who are opposed to the development of green belt sites. We are based in Formby and David Wilson Homes have had a public exhibition informing us that they are going to build on our green belt land whether we like it or not. The laws need to protect our green belt land for the future before we all end up living in a concrete world. STOP BUILDING ON GREEN BELT LAND NOW or lose your countryside and heritage forever. STOP IT OR LOSE IT FOREVER - HANDS OFF OUR GREEN BELT